The Facade

"The Fifth Sacrifice?" Adam asked.

"The Goddess' Prophet will explain it to you soon," the lady on the left said.

"Do not worry. It is just an expression. You will not be murdered," the lady on his right smiled while taking his elbow. The lady on his left followed suit, "not in that sense of the word, at least."

A hole blinked into existence on the surface of the classical wooden door. Turned out it couldn't be swung open like those kinds of doors ought to do. It was just a façade, the only way to enter the building is through the digitally formed opening that chimed and beeped. They stepped into the dark space beyond it. As the opening was closing behind them, the lightings inside the space turned on, showing that they were inside of the classical foyer room. A sweet scent bombarded his nostrils, he coughed.

"Don't you like the smell? It's cinnamon."

Adam never smelled cinnamons before. In fact, he just now heard the name. The smell grew on him quickly though. He felt calm.

The foyer was one long hallway. The tiny desks, the floor, the cushioned chairs, the frames of the paintings, all wood. Polished and dark, the light from the mighty glass chandelier hung in the middle of the room reflected brilliantly from them. The painting though was all black. At first, Adam hypothesized that they were just screens, for displaying the paintings digitally. But when he looked carefully, he saw brushstrokes and traces of colors beneath it. Whatever the original paintings were, it was already painted over with pitch black.

He slowly shrugged the ladies' arms from his elbows, "sorry, I'm not comfortable. I won't go anywhere if that's your intention of holding me like this."

"Don't you like being surrounded by pretty girls?" one of them asked.

Well, she wasn't wrong, but, "I'm hoping to see the Mayor. I don't think this is appropriate."

The ladies were smiling and let him go, "very well. But please follow us."

Adam thought about Hagar. What was she doing now? It was too long since the last time they communicated this morning. He didn't leave any messages for her about his intention of meeting the Mayor. It was a sudden decision on his part. He'll tell her later.

"We haven't properly introduced ourselves, I believe," one of the ladies said, "I'm A-13."

"And I'm A-12," said the other one.

Androids. Type A. The first models of androids were created solely for prostitution. It explained these two's sleazy attitude. He wondered why the Mayor employed these kinds of machines to be his … receptionists. For show? Why? "Please to meet you," he answered.

"You're very prudent, Mr. Williams," said A-13.

"You need to loosen up, Mr. Williams," said A-12.

"And you need to stop your bullshit and let me see the Mayor," Adam was annoyed, "I was under the impression that I'm expected. Is this the Mayor's office or one of your kind's whore-houses?"

That string of words surely pushed their buttons, because the pleasure machines' demeanor changed abruptly. Adam could see anger flashed on their faces before they managed to push it under their learned manner of formality. Adam could sense that something brewing under the machine's hive mind, he noticed it from Y-0 and Y-14's behaviors and their chosen words. Maybe they decided to be more assertive about their individuality ever since the Gallery's incident. He couldn't find the connection there yet, but he was sure that something was turned on. He deliberately chose hateful words to test it and apparently, he was right.

Speaking of Y-0 and Y-14, how were they doing now?

"Very well, Sir. Follow us," A-12 said.

They walked along the carpeted hall and vulgar exhibitions of everything wooden, with blackened paintings and glass chandeliers to another set of double doors, also made from wood. Another hole blinked into existence and another darkness beyond.

"Tell me, Mr. Williams," A-12 asked plainly, "are you religious?"

"Why do you care?"

"Your level of acceptance to the information you're about to be given will be depended on that," she answered.

"I'm the one who will give the information," Adam stated.

"The information you're about to give is nothing new for the Mayor," A-12 said as they entered the new room, which lighted now as the hole behind them blinked close. They are now in the main hall, with another set of double doors at the end of it, and a set of mirroring grand staircase on each side. Red carpeted and made of wood. Adam tried to compute how much money was spent on this mansion unless all of this was only digital projections. The interior didn't make sense if he compared it with the pyramidal structure outside. Was this just for presentation? He was just a lowly investigator. The Mayor didn't have to be all theatrical with him.

"Still," Adam said as he made notes of four colorless statues set on the room's edges. They were statues of women with different styles of clothing. He wondered about the slick broken white with strings of grey texture. Was it the legendary marble? "I need to propose him to create a task force, to handle a possible terrorist attack and pandemic-like happenings. Maybe you guys can finally useful for humanity, since you're expendables and won't catch a disease…"

"If you intend to provoke us, Mr. Williams," A-13 said without looking back at him, "you will need to reconsider."

Adam sensed a threat from the tone of its voice, "or what?"

"Now, A-13," A-12 said, nervously, "stop it."

A-13 darted its head back. Adam saw a flash of red in its eyes, but it turned its head to the front once more. It was interesting to see machines having physical-chemical reactions as humans. Marvelous. But they're not really living beings. "Will you try to off me like Y-14 tried to off my Commander?"

A-12 looked confounded, and Adam could see a slight twitch in A-13's shoulder. He hit another button, apparently. George's attack on Y-14 must be because it was trying to attack him first. These stupid machines forgot that they're dealing with an investigator. It was only his suspicion, but their reactions seemed to confirm it.

"It's not that simple, Mr. Williams," A-12 tried to defend their position. Then its eyes turned black, and it seemed like it was detached from the situation they were in, then when its eyes turned normal, she said, "the Prophet don't want to wait. We have to bring you to His presence immediately."

"How about the Mayor?"

"He has been taken care of."